WASHINGTON — President Trump’s administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless those states provide information about those receiving the assistance.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is in the works because those states are refusing to provide data the department requested such as the names and immigration status of aid recipients. She said the cooperation is necessary in order to root out fraud in the program. Democratic states have sued to block the requirement.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia previously sued over the request for information, which was initially made in February. A San Francisco-based federal judge has barred the administration, at least for now, from collecting the information from those states.
The federal government last week sent the states a letter saying that it was time to comply, as other states have, but the parties all agreed to give the states until Dec. 8 to respond.
Administration says data is needed to spot fraud
About 42 million lower-income Americans, or 1 in 8, rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to help buy groceries. The average monthly benefit is about $190 per person, or a little over $6 a day.
Rollins has cited information provided by the 28 other states — those with Republican governors plus North Carolina, saying it shows that 186,000 deceased people are receiving SNAP benefits and that 500,000 are getting benefits more than once.
“We asked for all the states for the first time to turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them,” Rollins said, “but also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected.”
Her office has not released detailed data, including the amount in benefits obtained by error or fraud that is being used.
Experts say that although there is certainly fraud in a $100 billion-a-year program, the bigger problem is perpetrated by organized crime, not beneficiaries.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Connecticut Democrat who is a co-sponsor of legislation to undo recent SNAP changes, said Rollins is trying to make changes without transparency — or without a role for Congress — and that she is mischaracterizing the program.
“Individuals who are just trying to buy food, those aren’t the ones who aren’t gaming the system in the way that the administration is trying to portray,” Hayes said in an interview on Tuesday before Rollins announced her intention.
Democratic officials question administration’s motives
Democratic officials responded to Rollins’ announcement by blasting the administration.
“The Governor wishes President Trump would be a president for all Americans rather than taking out his political vendettas on the people who need these benefits the most,” Claire Lancaster, a spokesperson for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Whether it’s threatening highway funding or food assistance, the President is making malicious decisions that will raise prices and harm families.”
In response to Rollins’ comments, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted, “Genuine question: Why is the Trump Administration so hellbent on people going hungry?”
SNAP has been in the spotlight recently
The program is not normally in the political spotlight, but it has been this year.
As part of Trump’s big tax and policy bill this year, work requirements are expanding to include people ages 55 to 64, homeless people and others.
And amid the recent federal government shutdown, the administration planned to not fund the benefits for November. There was a back-and-forth in the courts about whether it could do so, but then the government reopened and benefits resumed before the final word.
In the meantime, some states scrambled to fund benefits on their own and most increased or accelerated money for food banks.
Mulvihill and Superville write for the Associated Press. Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, N.J. AP journalists Michael Hill in Albany, New York; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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